In ice making and handling systems, it is known to produce ice by employing a refrigeration cycle, which makes ice by freezing water, and to deliver the ice from a site of its manufacture to an ice receptacle from which the ice may be accessed and used.
It is also known that the manufacture of ice can be accomplished by the use of an auger which scrapes ice that is formed on an inner wall of a cylinder, and moves the ice toward one end of the auger by which it is compressed and delivered as nuggets into a conduit, through which it is pushed to an ice storage receptacle. In the receptacle, the ice can be retained until it is desired to access ice for use, or the receptacle can be one in which the ice is used to cool other substances, such as drinking liquids, for example.
An example of an auger-type ice maker and ice compression apparatus is that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,134,908; an example of one type of ice receptacle is that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,887,758; another example of an ice receptacle or retaining unit is that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,137,271; yet another such example is that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,030; a further example of an ice receptacle is that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,573; yet other examples of ice making and delivery apparatus are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,096,686, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,860,408; 6,952,935 and 6,685,053; other examples of ice delivery systems are those in which a given delivery line is caused to divert ice among different receptacles as are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,581,768, 3,771,560 and 4,055,280.
The disclosures of each of the above-identified patents are herewith incorporated herein by reference.